|
|
Post by Singularity on Apr 7, 2017 12:41:05 GMT -5
The small space being was plagued by the conversation she'd had with Artie Cade. So much so that she had left the shelter he had provided for her and flew around the city to be alone with her thoughts. In this reality, Artie Cade and Laura were father and daughter. Not by blood, but by bond. That hardly ever happened. In almost every reality, Arcade was hated by Wolverine and everyone like him. But maybe she had imagined it, like Laura said? Laura seemed to think she was absolutely crazy, but she wasn't .... was she? Maybe she was.
She was a sentient pocket of space. There wasn't anything like her. There was a possibility that she was making up different realities, or that she was only seeing possibilities instead of truths. But she was sure of what she saw. Arcade was younger than Artie. He was still in high school, and he built amazingly lifelike robots. He and Laura tried to kill each other regularly. She saw it happen. She knew it happened. She wasn't crazy. She was sure of it.
Her wandering took her to Central Park. She curled up at the top of a tree and fell asleep. This was how she was comfortable. She was most comfortable with a view of the night sky. Now, she could dream.
But she couldn't sleep. She wondered if this Arcade was the same as the other Arcade at all. If he had that woman. That woman with the black hair. She tossed and turned in the branch she chose as her bed and finally gave up on her mission to sleep, deciding to meditate as best she could to find out. She sat up and meditated on the woman with the black hair, and found her in Artie's past. She smiled to herself, seeing the happy memories from the perspective of the stars, but winced when the scene turned bloody. Her eyes shot open, and she knew. This Arcade was not so different from the Arcade she knew at that high school.
She leaned against the trunk of the tree, almost defeated. She didn't want to let this Arcade's memories of that woman end on that note. He was far nicer than the other Arcade. He didn't deserve it. She thought for a moment and decided to try something. She floated above the trees in Central Park and created a portal nearly invisible to the eyes of those around it.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In an instant, a woman tripped over the edge and came stumbling through, falling to her knees. She looked up and around. This wasn't the part of the city she was just in. In fact, this didn't look like the same New York she was used to. It looked like the New York from old pictures she'd seen, but it wasn't what she was used to at all.
She picked herself up and looked around for any sign of how she got here, but by then the portal was gone. She frowned. This was hardly the weirdest thing to have happened to her, after all.
With a small sigh, Locke started walking toward the street to see if she could flag down a car.
|
|
|
|
Post by Artie Cade on May 9, 2017 17:52:29 GMT -5
It hadn't been long since Artie had set out from the Wicked Suit. He'd gone to check on Sing to see how she'd been keeping, but she wasn't in the room they'd prepared....in fact, the room had hardly been touched. Being the paranoid ball of nerves he was, he of course set out to look for her straight away. The kid seemed too gentle to just leave without saying goodbye. But still, where would she have gone?
Artie didn't usually drive himself. But Mr. Chambers had gone to bed given the hour and Artie didn't feel this was important enough to wake him. Cars were a bit too large for him to easily maneuver, but he managed nevertheless, making his way to areas the girl would probably frequent...she wasn't at Coney Island or he'd have seen her, he doubted she'd gone back to Lady Liberty, and so he checked the park...
He pulled the car against the sidewalk and stepped out of it, wrapping his overcoat around him and limping across the lawn, looking for the girl.
"SING!" he called out, "You here? Kid c'mon back to the Suit, it's all right!"
Since it was later than one might be out and about, he was surprised to see a figure facing the opposite street across the way. He limped over toward her, keeping his wide brimmed hat down over his head as much as possible lest she recognize him. She was tall, with long dark hair and seemed...bewildered? Must be a tourist.
"Excuse me, miss, have you seen a..." he asked as he made his way toward her side and looked only slight up at her before looking up fully, stopping in shock, "....there was a....girl....here...."
It was....no, it couldn't be. But it looked so much like his Locke...his lovely Locke....gone to her grave too soon.
And it was all his fault.
But this was coincidence, surely. He cleared his throat.
"Sorry, I've just been uh...wandering so I...." he paused for a moment and his thoughts trailed off, "...excuse me, sorry for disturbing you."
He turned to go and began to slowly limp away, his mind whirling.
Could this be Locke? But...how? She was dead. A sister? Some...cosmic fracture...?
|
|
|
|
Post by Singularity on May 16, 2017 11:49:22 GMT -5
Singularity's head jolted up when she heard Artie's voice. He had come looking for her? Oh, he was MUCH nicer than Arcade. Maybe she was wrong about him and Locke. But,then again, if she was, where was she? Did he have a Locke? Did she act without knowing all the details again? She could have really messed something up this time, and she would have no one to blame but herself. She panicked for a moment as her mind raced as Artie caught sight of Locke and hid in the leaves of the tree she was in. Not that she was terribly effective in hiding. Stars still shone brightly through the branches, despite her best efforts.
But still, she watched. She peeked through the leaves to see, and hoped things would work the way she expected them to from the beginning. But Artie was walking away. No! Locke, stop him! She pouted, but kept her eyes on the woman. This had to go right. Poor Artie needed a little bit of relief in his life. If she was right, he needed closure. She wanted to offer that to him.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Locke turned when the man addressed her, and surprise was clear on her face. She recognized him. This was Arcade. Well, maybe not her Arcade, but he looked just like him. She remembered fondly some of their discussions of alternate realities, and guessed that this was another version of him. It had to be. Her version wasn't nearly as scarred. He didn't walk with a limp. What had happened to this one?
Before she could say anything, he had turned to limp away, and Locke was left bewildered. Whatever brought her here, maybe she was here for a reason. Maybe she was here to help Arcade. She trotted up to him to catch up (not like it was hard to do) and put a gentle hand on his shoulder to stop him.
"Maybe you can help me," she said, softly. Her voice was still that gentle tone that could ease his troubles in five syllables or less. She offered a nervous smile, not really sure what was going on, but clearly worried about him. After all, he looked so much like the one she loved. He was the one she loved.
"I .... don't know how to say this, but I'm incredibly lost. I'm not sure how I ended up here." There was a pause as she tried to work out the right thing to say. She wanted so much to help him. "Would you mind ... Giving me a ride to get something to eat?"
There was another pause and she chuckled, putting a hand over her face. "I'm sorry. Where are my manners? I'm Locke. What's your name?" She offered her hand to shake. After all, it would be weird to assume this was Arcade, and that he would instantly know her.
|
|
|
|
Post by Artie Cade on May 20, 2017 23:50:15 GMT -5
Artie stopped dead in his tracks and turned around to face the woman, a stunned look on the half of his face not obscured by the semi-lifelike mask.
"You're..." he said softly and limped closer to her, "....you're who?"
He had to process this, looking her up and down in disbelief. Was she a ghost? No, she was tangible, her clothes reacted to the night wind. Her hair too...that dark, long hair. Her eyes, he'd know those eyes anywhere. But she was dead, and he'd killed her...but what was this then? If not a phantom then...Locke?
Steadily and gingerly, Artie reached a hand up to touch her face...it was her. That felt like her skin always felt.
This was all he could hope for...this couldn't be coincidence. Was this...her? He'd seen enough strange things with mutants and metahumans and this girl he was trying to track down tonight to believe almost anything but...Locke? His Locke? Come back to him?
He dared hope it was true, that this wasn't some stranger and he wasn't about to have the police called on him. He wasn't this crazy...was he? He began to wonder and question that himself. If this wasn't Locke then he'd eat his hat. Or drop half his empire to Fisk. No, this was Locke.
And even if it wasn't, it had to be.
It needed to be.
He needed her to be.
"....Locke.....you....remember me....don't you?" he shakily stammered out, in almost a whisper that she didn't seem to know him, "I know I'm not quite the same, but I....a lot has happened since you've been...away...it's me, it's Artie."
Artie's eyes welled up with tears, the hope and the fear and the relief and the love all fighting to keep hold of what passed for his heart. This woman, the embodiment of the first and only real person he had ever loved, truly loved, in his life...he had killed her. Murdered her once long ago. But now she was here...it was her.
|
|
|
|
Post by Singularity on May 24, 2017 11:00:51 GMT -5
Singularity flitted to another tree, where Locke could see her. She smiled, glad to see the two of them together. After all, the Arcade she knew was so devastated by Locke's death, she knew Artie had to feel the same way.
She felt like she was forgetting something about her death. Something important.
Well, maybe not that important if she couldn't remember it.
She laid on her stomach on the branch, gently motioning to Locke to play along. She was confident the woman would. After all, the two of them loved each other once.
Locke watched as this Arcade processed who she was. How long had he been without her? She tried to guess, but she couldn't. He looked much older than the Arcade she knew, and so she had no idea how long she had been gone from his life. But her heart still ached for him. He wasn't hers, and she knew that. But he was still in need.
He touched her face and she leaned into his touch, humming softly. It felt right. It felt perfect. Maybe she was always meant to come here. For him. It wasn't much of a stretch to imagine. After all, what were the odds that she would end up in this version of New York?
He finally spoke, scared she didn't recognize him, and her heart ached further. She held onto his hand, keeping it on her cheek as he nuzzled his palm. "Of course I remember you, Artie." So that was the name he was going by? It felt both natural and extremely weird to say it, but she didn't want him to worry that she was lying for his sake. In a way, she wasn't. She knew him. Just not this him.
She touched his mask, very carefully, and pressed a kiss to his forehead. She knew what was underneath, but it surprised her that he wore a mask to cover it. "What has happened to you, my darling?" She couldn't help the terms of affection. Her heart was too full of love for this man, and she wanted him to know she did still love him. "Your face .... and you walk with a limp? What has happened since I've been gone?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Artie Cade on May 30, 2017 19:40:49 GMT -5
She remembered him. She knew. Artie didn't understand how she was here, but he didn't care. His mind raced through a million different places all at once, some he'd locked away, until-
-a kiss.
Something so seemingly simple as a kiss broke Artie Cade into pieces.
He gasped as her lips touched his head. The tears that had welled up overflowed out of his eyes as he clung to this woman he'd loved so deeply and sent out of his life that night, many years past.
He didn't deserve her forgiveness. Let alone her affection.
A...a kiss....for him....
If he'd had his senses about him in this overflow of emotion, Artie was sure he'd be appalled at what a bawling racket he was making. But right now...it was all he could do.
She was warm. She was his Locke. She'd come back to him.
Through the haze of waterworks staining his eyes, Artie looked up into Locke's face and ran a hand gently down her cheek.
"It's...really you...." he rasped out before he held her close again, "My...my Locke..."
He let that moment last for a while. Just holding her. In that park like they used to.
When it had passed, he stepped back from her, not letting her hands leave his as he did.
"It's...a long story," he admitted, a half sob half laugh accompanying his smile, "I'll-I'll tell ya about it over some food, like you asked. Okay?"
Artie indicated to the car as he led Locke toward it, thinking of so many things he had to tell her, the smile not leaving his lips.
"I'll get us to our spot...!" he realized ecstatically, "Sardi's! You remember Sardi's? I'll have them prepare my booth when I get there, I don't care who I've gotta kick out...! They keep late for me sometimes."
He laughed. Not a maniacal cackle, but a real, happy laugh that only Laura and maybe Jessica and his significant others had ever heard, and even then not too frequently. Artie opened the passenger door for Locke and helped her in before limping over to the driver's side and starting the car again.
He'd completely forgotten he was looking for Sing. Right now, all that mattered was...this feeling as he drove off toward the restaurant.
|
|
|
|
Post by Singularity on Jun 4, 2017 17:07:07 GMT -5
Singularity watched this all transpire, until Artie fell to pieces. She felt some small sense of pride that she had done something good for a man that clearly needed it. He was a version of Arcade that didn't have a Locke anymore. That needed to be remedied, and she had done so.
Seeing him cling to her broke her heart and melted the pieces. He needed this more than she could ever have fathomed, and she had helped.
Without making a sound, she dissolved into stars and disappeared into the sky, deciding to watch from there.
Locke clung to Artie, looking up at the sky. She saw the star girl disappear into the stars and she quietly thanked her for bringing her to Artie. She kept her arms around him, gently brushing his tears away. She remembered her own Arcade, and the lows that came with his highs. She was quite used to taking care of him in this state, and she was happy to do it.
When he stepped back, still holding onto her hands, she gave his a light squeeze and offered him that smile. The smile that reassured him everything was alright. The smile that promised that she still loved him, no matter what.
"Alright," she cooed, stepping back toward him and sliding an arm around his shoulders.
She smiled fondly as she followed him to the car, smile broadening into a loving grin when he laughed. She loved his laugh.
When they were in the car, she shifted to face him, leaning against her seat. "So much has happened," she finally said. "I'm sure I've missed a lot."
She knew exactly why, too. It was one of her secrets from even her own Arcade. She never let on that she knew what he did to her, because to her it didn't matter. All that mattered was him.
"I want you to tell me everything. What have you been doing all this time?"
|
|
